Life

Asthma Survivor to Breathe Kona Air in October

How a Massachusetts-based doctor turned a frightening asthma attack into IRONMAN inspiration.

by Gaylia Osterlund

Thanks to his wife's quick thinking one day back in 1996, Dr. John Frasca of Medfield, Massachusetts is here to fulfill his dream of racing the IRONMAN World Championship in October.

The father of four and vascular surgeon grew up in central Connecticut and swam competitively in high school. Because of difficulty breathing, he focused on shorter events. Many years went by before he was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and treated with an inhaler. In 1996, Frasca came down with a cold that triggered a vicious asthma attack. He tried to treat himself for a few days, but his condition worsened to the point that even the exertion of walking down a flight of stairs was too much.

His wife called for help and Frasca was brought to the hospital and treated. "If I had passed out I might not have made it," he said in an email. He remembers being extremely scared during the ambulance ride and in the emergency room, but that fear was tempered by gratitude to his wife for making that life-saving 911 call.

As Frasca said, asthma is no minor illness. Nine people die in America from asthma every day, more than 3,300 per year, and he knows he could have been one of them. "It must mean I have some contributions to make over my lifetime," he concluded.

Once Frasca was home, his health improved and he decided to pursue triathlon to stay healthy. Like many others, Frasca was introduced to the sport while watching a broadcast of the IRONMAN World Championship. He said he connected on an emotional level with the grit and determination he saw in the athletes, and he knew in his heart that someday he would go the distance. At the swim start of his first triathlon, a sprint race in 1998, the chaos triggered a mild asthma attack. He performed some focused breathing to calm down before he was able to complete the swim.

Stepping up to the full distance in 2004, Frasca completed the Esprit Triathlon in Montreal, where he placed fifth. He then decided he would go long every other year and completed IRONMAN Lake Placid in 2006 and 2008 and IRONMAN Coeur d'Alene in 2010 and 2012. The one constant every year was that he'd apply for the lottery that would hopefully give him a start on the big island with the best endurance athletes in the world. This year was his lucky year.

Frasca says he's thrilled to have the chance to do the "granddaddy of the sport," and continues to manage his asthma with the help of his physician. The attack many years ago brought to light many important things in his life, and he says racing is part of the way he expresses gratitude for having survived the asthma attack.

As for racing IRONMAN? "It hurts and I wonder why I'm doing it sometimes, but it makes me feel alive," he says.